As ad-hoc device networks become more prevalent in operating rooms, new combinations of devices arise and a requirement for standardization to allow surgeons and technicians to rapidly assimilate operational procedures is needed. Current operating room networks are showing promise in introducing device discovery, shared control, and security. However, the last mile of data universality appears to be impossible to traverse since there will always be new devices that will need to break the mold to innovate further. The present invention acknowledges that a universal data protocol may never become a reality and seeks to go around this final stumbling block by translating the semantics of new data exchanges on-the-fly since new data protocols are an inevitability.